Among The Trees
by itabitaboo
Summary: Sasuke's first encounter with a vampire named Ashkine didn't go so well. The two escalated from playful banter to Ash's hands wrapped around Sasuke's neck in an aggressive attempt to shut Sasuke up. Needless to say, it took Sasuke some time to feel comfortable with facing Ash again. He could never guess what would be in store for the evening after being invited back to Ash's home.


**A/N:** The incredible Ashkine is an OC that is _not my creation_. He was created and is penned by the amazing genius that you can find on tumblr at ofbonesandash! Also, this is in an Alternate Universe of a Modern-day setting.

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Sasuke recoiled a bit when Ashkine leaned in close. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but a gentle kiss on the head wasn't it. The action felt too intimate, and Sasuke felt uncomfortable in the wake of it. Yet, he did enjoy every chance Ashkine took to prove that he was no brute.

By now, though, Sasuke didn't think Ashkine to be the horrid creature that the various forms of lore had assured he would be, so Ashkine had nothing left to prove. It didn't cross Sasuke's mind that the gesture might be more deep than just proving Ashkine's extensive point that he was not a horrible creature to be feared. Perhaps Ash did it because he wanted to, because he liked to. Perhaps it was just an act of affection, but Sasuke was missing that as an option entirely.

Sasuke followed Ash to the door, leaning on it as the man crossed the threshold. He didn't quite understand why he was being thanked, but he smiled anyway. Once Ash was gone, Sasuke looked for that spare key. He found it and pocketed it, in case he needed to use it. He had a feeling that he would stay to see Ashkine come home though.

First order of business was to work on his cup of tea. It was no longer hot, but it was almost gone anyway. Thinking he could use the time to relax, Sasuke decided to start the kettle again and make a fresh cup. While waiting for the kettle to slowly come to a boil, he took his phone out of his pocket and called Naruto.

"Hey, what's up? Did he change you yet?" Naruto teased.

Sasuke huffed. "Yep," he answered easily. "I'm all blood and guts now."

"Ew, Sasuke," Naruto admonished. "I think blood is enough. Don't go accusing Ash of liking guts now…"

"Dobe…" Sasuke's eyes rolled and his head was shaking, but he was also smiling. Leave it up to Naruto to ruin even a joke.

"Really, how goes it?" Naruto asked seriously.

Sasuke's tongue slipped over his lower lip and he tucked it to worry between his teeth nervously. "It's fine," he said, coming across as very aloof.

"What, you called just to tell me literally nothing?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke laughed quietly. "He kissed me…"

Naruto was silent.

"–on the head," Sasuke went on, clarifying. "Twice, actually…"

"Did you crumble and die?" Naruto asked playfully.

"I dunno," Sasuke answered. "I mean, it was kinda awkward both times."

"Maybe it's just a friendly thing he does," Naruto mused aloud. "–to friends…"

It sounded like Naruto was stressing the 'friends' part a bit much. Sasuke shrugged, leaning back against the counter in the kitchen. "Things were a bit tense at first," he admitted.

"Until you realized he didn't wanna kill ya, right?" Naruto supplied.

Sasuke snorted a little laugh. "Yeah. More or less."

"Did you get all your questions out?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke's cheeks flushed. Asking for the man to confirm or deny an endless list of questions about lore that just seemed stupid by now was something Sasuke couldn't do when he actually got in front of Ashkine. It was easy to make up an entire identity in his head when he was devoutly avoiding Ashkine and refusing to let the man just _show_ him what kind of existence he lead.

In the end, Ashkine's behavior and presence alone was enough to make Sasuke not care about that stuff anymore. When Sasuke was with him, things made easy sense. There was an aura about Ash that showed the true gentleness of his nature. It was hard to imagine that those hands had ever been wrought around his neck. It was hard to imagine that Sasuke himself had ever been so crass to begin with. The two actually got along quite well.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked impatiently.

Sasuke cleared his throat, coming out of his thoughts. "Well, he pretty much immediately invited me to his house," he divulged.

"What? Really?" The response sounded like a whine to Sasuke. "Your first time trusting him even a little bit again and he takes you home?" Naruto scoffed. "I trusted him from the get go y'know."

"Dobe, don't pout. He was probably just trying to go the extra mile for me," Sasuke insisted. "Like you said, you trusted him from the get go." He was afraid to make Naruto any more jealous, so he remained vague. "He just made me tea and then left me here."

"What?" Naruto asked, obviously confused. "Alone?"

"He was hungry…" Sasuke replied.

Sasuke was never one to feel awkward, but the silence between he and Naruto was dense enough to qualify as awkward indeed. Thankfully, the tea kettle began to scream.

"What's that?!" Naruto asked quickly.

"Just tea," Sasuke informed. "I'm gonna focus on this now, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto replied. "Oi, text me on the way home."

"Sure," Sasuke conceded. "Later."

"Bye~" Naruto nearly sang, sounding more like his usual self.

Sasuke fussed with his tea for a few long moments before wandering back to the couch to sit down. For a while, he just sat there and used the time to relax and ponder. He thought about Ash extensively, pulling his real concerns apart from the from the hyped up concerns that he'd pretty much fabricated during the time when their last altercation was still so fresh. Eventually, he ran out of tea, so he made more. It was nearing the time that Ash said he should be back, so Sasuke texted him a warning.

[SMS Ashkine] Hey, still at your place, sucking up all your tea. Return soon if you don't want me to drink it all.

He repeated the cycle of making tea two more times before he began to check his phone compulsively. It had been well over an hour by now.

[SMS Ashkine] What could possibly be holding you up? Go for a mountain lion over a deer or something?

The text was supposed to be light in nature, but the idea that Ashkine could be somewhere bleeding out after being mauled by a giant feline had him panicky. Finally, Sasuke took to just pacing restlessly between rooms, staring at the front door like a hawk. For the sake of his sanity, he needed a distraction, so he located the tv remote easily and turned the tv on. He left it on the channel it had been on automatically. When he noticed that it was the news channel, he rolled his eyes–good for nothing but fear mongering and blatant lies, but it would serve his purpose well enough.

He continued to pace anxiously, and his eyes just happened to flicker up at the right moment to see a shaky, poor quality video on the screen. He heard the sound of multiple gunshots and flinched. The woman on the screen started to explain the video just as it was pausing on a grainy image of the thing being shot at. It wasn't an animal. It was a human. That caught Sasuke's attention.

The woman claimed that the man had taken down a deer with his bare hands, been shot at multiple times, and still kept moving as if nothing had happened. Sasuke scrutinized the photo, and then it all clicked together.

"Fuck," he breathed just as the woman informed that police had already been dispatched.

He turned the tv off and rushed out the door. He managed to quickly lock it behind himself, pocketing the spare key again, before he rushed back to the bar where he had parked his car and sped to the area mentioned on tv. He didn't know what to expect. What, was Ashkine just going to come flying out of the woods at him and make it easy?

To Sasuke's surprise, Ashkine did just that. Perhaps he could sense Sasuke coming. Perhaps not. Either way, Sasuke almost hit the man with his car. His tires screeched loudly as he came to a halt. He immediately opened his door and stepped out with one foot. Before he could even get out fully though, Ash was climbing in his back seat. He hurried around to help. Ash was already unconscious when he got there, so he helped the man's legs in and slammed the door shut.

Once behind the wheel again, he hurried home in a way that was as legal and safe as he could manage to be in this situation. He talked to Ash the entire time, but there was no response. For all he knew, he was driving around a dead body. When he got home, he quickly grabbed Ash to remove the man from the car. He noticed the blood then. His back seat was covered in it, and it just kept oozing out, and it was unlike any color Sasuke had ever seen. Though, he supposed of all people, Ash would be the one to have metallic blood. At least it wouldn't seem incriminating.

Sasuke's hands shook wildly as he carried Ashkine's body inside. God. What would the neighbors think? His panicked mind kept flashing back to hands wrapped tightly around his neck, squeezing as he was lifted off of the floor–and Ash wasn't even starving then. Stricken by a primal fear, Sasuke dragged Ash down into his basement. He would have set the man up comfortably on the couch, but he was too weak and exhausted from dragging him down safely in the first place.

Sasuke's ear pressed to Ash's chest and he could hear a heart pumping and feel lungs breathing rather normally. He lingered for a while, hoping that Ash would wake up, but also hoping that he wouldn't. Eventually, he decided to take a shower and wash the unique blood from his body. He washed quickly, fearing that Ash would wake up in some kind of craze, seek him out by scent, and fucking ravish Sasuke until the raven was dead. It seemed extreme, but Sasuke couldn't help the way his mind conjured up horrible scenarios in the wake of his panicking.

Once clean, Sasuke paced back and forth in front of the closes basement door for what felt like hours, entering to step down a few steps and peek in to check on Ash every once in a while. It was taking so long for the man to wake that Sasuke's panicking had a chance to die down. While he still feared for Ash's life, he no longer feared for his own. He remembered that Ash was hungry when they were just spending time alone earlier that day, and Ash didn't attack him then. It was unlikely that he would attack now… right?


End file.
